Patti Smith (photo credit: Steven Sebring) / click for
hi-res version
Nelio Biedermann (photo credit: Ruben Holling) / click for
hi-res version
CHERRY LANE THEATRE UNVEILS October 13, 2026—Cherry Lane Theatre unveils the latest iteration of their BookTalk series with poet, writer, and performer Patti Smith alongside fast-rising Swiss writer Nelio Biedermann. Get tickets HERE.
NEXT BOOKTALK EVENT
WITH PATTI SMITH
AND NELIO BIEDERMANN FOR NOVEMBER 5
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS
FOLLOWS INAUGURAL EVENT WITH MADELINE CASH AND AUDREY HOBERT
In partnership with McNally Jackson Books, the event will have the pair discuss Smith’s latest memoir, Bread of Angels—which was named a “best book of the year” by Time, The New Yorker and NPR, among others—and Biedermann’s acclaimed English language debut, Lázár, which The New York Times hails as “virtuosic.” Guests will be treated to a rare signing event with both authors following the conversation.
This ongoing series pairs an author with an artist who inspires them for a live conversation about creativity, influence and the ideas that shape their work.
Smith and Biedermann’s event follows the inaugural BookTalk program with author Madeline Cash and singer-songwriter Audrey Hobert in June. Cash and Hobert held a discussion on girlhood, beauty, humor, their artistic process and the enduring influence of one of their shared favorite films: The Virgin Suicides.
This fall, Cherry Lane will present Two Girls and School Pictures: a new slate showcasing two different plays. Two Girls—Cherry Lane’s first world-premiere and first project developed in-house—revisits one of the 2000s’ most viral shock-porn videos, using verbatim dialogue to construct a profound and unexpected examination of sex and the body. This darkly funny two-hander explores what we look at as we develop our sexualities and why we can’t look away. School Pictures is a musical journal documenting parenting, inequality and the cruelty of puberty in the NYC school system with humor and wit. Faith hates reading, Jane has lost her flashcards and Javier sees no point in studying because of climate change. Both shows open on October 18.
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About PATTI SMITH
Patti Smith is the author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids, as well as Woolgathering, M Train, Year of the Monkey, and Collected Lyrics. Her seminal album Horses has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. Her global exhibitions include Strange Messenger, Land 250, Camera Solo, and Evidence. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith is also the recipient of the ASCAP Founders Award, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, and the Legion d’honneur.
About NELIO BIEDERMANN
Nelio Biedermann, born in 2003, is the author of Anton will bleiben and Lázár. Originally published in Germany, Lázár is an international sensation and was an instant bestseller. It won the 2025 Favourite Book of Independent Booksellers award and is being translated into more than twenty-five languages. A native of Zurich, Biedermann is studying German literature and film at the University of Zurich.
About CHERRY LANE THEATRE
Cherry Lane is a New York institution: the oldest Off-Broadway theatre in New York City, a historic platform for new and emerging voices and where culture, creativity, and community converge. A24 acquired Cherry Lane in 2023 and reopened it in September 2025; today its programming spans theater, comedy, music and film. Since the 1920s, Cherry Lane has launched generations of playwrights and performers, from F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eugene O’Neill and Lorraine Hansberry to Kevin Bacon, Tony Curtis, and Amiri Baraka and more. That legacy continues under A24, with creator debuts ranging from Natalie Palamides’ Weer to Clare Barron’s You Got Older and Benedict Lombe's Shifters, alongside Sofia Coppola’s Sundays with Sofia screening series, Spike Lee’s 25th Hour program and performances by MIKE, Haim, Tame Impala and Lizzy McAlpine, plus stand-up sets by Ramy Youssef, Adam Sandler and more. The venue has also launched new programs like the Cherry Lane Playwrights Collective, a nonprofit partnership with Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and director Annie Baker (The Flick, Janet Planet).
CherryLaneTheatre.org
About MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKS
McNally Jackson Books is an independent bookstore with locations in SoHo, Rockefeller Center, the Seaport, Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn. It was founded by Sarah McNally in 2004.
For additional information:
Carla Sacks and
Noah Ginsberg, Sacks & Co.